BET to launch Web portal

DavidB. Wilkerson

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- BET Holdings, the nation's largest provider of entertainment content for the African-American market, said Thursday said it's partnering with five media-related giants on a new Internet portal.

BET said the initiative represents "the most significant economic foothold in the Internet space by an African American-owned company."

Chief Executive Robert Johnson told CBS.MarketWatch.com the site will be one place African-Americans can be sure the content is relevant to them and accurate.

"You pick up any newspaper," he said. "Somebody edited that newspaper, and they edited it for the general market. We're going to edit our site for the African-American market." Watch our interview with Johnson.

The companies will fund the joint venture with an initial cash investment of $35 million. In addition, the partners will provide millions of dollars of in-kind contributions for marketing and promotion. See press release.

BET will have majority ownership and control of the venture.

Robert Johnson, who founded the nation's first and only black-oriented cable television network 19 years ago, said his company's entry into the Internet world is a natural progression from its four cable channels and three magazines.

The BET chief executive took the company's NYSE-traded stock private last year because he felt Wall Street had undervalued the shares. Some analysts thought BET should stick with its core cable networks and stay away from other ventures.

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